Lawrence Barker, Archivist
Parish Register, All Saints, Maldon (D/P 201/1/1)
Now that the forty-fifth President of United States of America has been elected, one could perhaps reflect back upon that illustrious line to the first holder of that office, George Washington, one of whose direct ancestors lived in Essex and was buried at All Saint’s Maldon in 1653, as recorded in this burial register. This was George’s great-great-grandfather, Revd. Laurence Washington, who was probably born at Sulgrave Manor in Northamptonshire in 1602, the son of another Laurence Washington. It was Revd. Laurence Washington’s own son John, born at Purleigh c. 1633/4, who emigrated to Virginia in 1653. There he in turn fathered a son also called Laurence Washington who was to be George Washington’s grandfather.
Burial entry for Laurence Washington in the parish register for All Saints, Maldon (D/DP 201/1/1)
Ironically, in view of George’s role in the American War of Independence, Revd. Laurence Washington was a staunch royalist and a protégé of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Through Laud’s agency he acquired the wealthy living of Purleigh near Maldon in 1632, and it must have been because of his royalist leanings that Laurence was one of those ministers ejected from their livings during the Civil War in 1643, in this case on a trumped up charge of drunkenness. So, he moved, possibly incognito, to the impoverished parish of Little Braxted. His family did not join him, however, but were sheltered by the family of Sir Edwin Sandys, who helped Laurence’s son John into the tobacco trade thus initiating his connection with Virginia. Sadly, Revd. Laurence died without an estate sufficient to need letters of administration and was buried at Maldon.
Cover of the first Maldon All Saints parish register
Incidentally, the burial entry in this register dated 21st January 1652 provides a good example of how one must be mindful of the old style calendar when researching one’s ancestors. Further down the register, one can see that the New Year starts on 25th March, so, the date of burial is actually the 21st January 1653 as reckoned by the modern calendar.
The parish register will be on display in the Searchroom throughout December 2016.